A Bad Case of Goving You
Trump promised to bring manufacturing back to America. And he has. The Justice Department is actively manufacturing cases against the president’s enemies. The process seems to go something like this. Trump demands legal retribution against his perceived enemies. Justice appointees and career officials find no wrongdoing. So Trump fires those appointees and replaces them with new, often wildly unqualified, loyalists who moved forward with the baseless case. Case in point: The targeting of James Comey: “President Trump’s handpicked federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of Virginia is racing to present a case against James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, to a grand jury before a deadline early next week, according to officials familiar with the situation. Lindsey Halligan, a former defense lawyer for Mr. Trump who was hastily appointed after the president forced out her predecessor last week, is rushing to draft an indictment under withering pressure from the White House. The president has demanded the department go after one of his foremost enemies, even though career prosecutors determined there was insufficient evidence to indict Mr. Comey.” NYT (Gift Article): U.S. Attorney Races to Present Case Against James Comey.
+ “The prosecutors earlier this week summarized their findings — that probable cause does not exist to secure an indictment, let alone a conviction at trial — in a detailed declination memo for Lindsey Halligan, President Donald Trump’s newly appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, sources said. Nevertheless, sources say Halligan plans to ask a grand jury in the coming days to indict Comey.”
+ The strategy is not limited to individuals. Organizations are in the crosshairs, too. NYT: Justice Dept. Official Pushes Prosecutors to Investigate George Soros’s Foundation. “The directive suggests department leaders are following orders from the president.”
+ “Political opponents, critics, perceived enemies are targeted for investigation or arrest to silence them, and the prosecutors instead of investigating … cases, they’re left to figure out a basis for charges after the fact … Where the rule of law is eroding, friends of the president do not have to worry about following the same laws that the rest of us follow. Exceptions will be made. And nobody, I mean nobody, in a president’s administration, or his allies, will be investigated or prosecuted, no matter what they do.” Former special counsel Jack Smith warns that rule of law is under attack.
